Pacil may be Over-Prescribed for elderly accoding to In May 2006 report in the London Free Press. A study by Toronto's Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences that showed seniors who were prescribed the new SSRIs such as Paxil and Zoloft were nearly five times more likely to commit suicide during the first month on the drugs than those patients given the older class of medications used to treat depression. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0609/S00008.htm

In conducting the study, researchers used Canadian coroners' reports, prescription records, and hospital data, and identified 1,142 suicides among older Canadians, age 66+ from 1992 to 2000, and determined whether they had been prescribed antidepressants in the six months before their deaths.

In addition, Paxil is being Linked to Violence and Environmental Risk

One study of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) class of anti-depressants like Paxil suggests the drugs may increase the risk of severe violence and the other study indicates the drugs can have damaging effects on the environment.

Researchers would like big pharma coompany to share more data to help measure whether there are certain subpopulations that are vulnerable to violent behavior induced by these SSRI drugs like Paxil.The risk of severe violence is already noted on labeling, but has not been noted as a severe side effect.